Legislative timeline: dog eating in Korea

1975: dogs classified as livestock in the national Regulation on Livestock Processing Hygiene.

1978: this regulation was renamed the Regulation on Livestock Products Processing. Dogs were excluded from classification as livestock.

1984: the Ministry of Health and Welfare revised the Enforcement Ordinance in the national Food Hygiene Law, and reinforced the inspection of restaurants.

1984: on the basis of the ordinance above, the Metropolitan Government of Seoul classified several foods as ‘repellent’, including earthworm soup, maggot soup, boshintang (dog meat soup) and kaesoju (dog meat juice), and banned their distribution and sale.

May 1998: Kim Hongshin, a member of parliament (MP), promoted the legalisation of dog meat through the media.

1998 to 2001: official discussions were held by the MPs Kim Hongshin and Song Sukchan, the Congress Committee on Agriculture, Fishery and Oceans, and others.

December 2001: a revised bill to legalise the dog meat trade was lodged with the National Assembly at the suggestion of Kim Hongshin.

9 March 2005: the Office for Government Policy Coordination announced that dog meat would be subject to hygiene inspections.

January 2007: the Ministry of Environment announced the Enforcement Ordinance on Inspection and Utilisation of Livestock Waste, and classified dogs as livestock.

24 March 2008: the Metropolitan Government of Seoul proposed to the Central Government that dogs be classified as livestock in legal terms under the Livestock Products Processing Law in order to inspect dog meat as livestock goods. The Seoul Government is to hold public hearings in May 2008, and submit proposals to the Central Government within the first half of 2008.

27 March 2008: certain Local Governments, including those of Jeju Island and Hongchun-Goon, announced that dogs would be classified as livestock in their provinces and that dog farms would be controlled in the same way as pig farms.